Comment
TONY PARSONS
King Charles’ cancer is a sign of fragile royal future… with no Prince Harry in it
The prospect of King Harry The Unhappy chills the blood
IT boggles the mind to reflect that if William became King tomorrow, then Harry would be fourth in line to the throne.
And the only royals ahead of Harry in the queue for the crown would be William and Kate’s three young children — George, ten, Charlotte, eight and Louis, five. Reassured? Me neither.
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The prospect of King Harry The Unhappy chills the blood.
The monarchy has been slimmed down but having Mr Markle that close to the throne makes it look like it is starving to death.
The King’s diagnosis of cancer has shocked the nation.
Yes, Charles is a fit man who was eating organic food and having periods of fasting decades before it was all fashionable.
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But the King is 75 years old. And there is no such thing as a minor diagnosis of cancer.
We all wish him well, and with early treatment His Majesty should be on the throne for many years to come.
Yet today we can’t help but reflect on the long-term future of our monarchy.
Charles has played a blinder as King so far. Indeed, he will be a very hard act to follow.
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His tours of Germany, France and Kenya were triumphs, every one of them a masterclass in diplomacy.
Charles has already carved his own invaluable identity as monarch.
King Charles will never abdicate - there's a historical reason why
But his cancer diagnosis is a stark reminder that he will not be around for ever.
As Charles withdrew to Sandringham to rest, Harry flew back to California after a 30-minute meeting with his father — their first for 17 months — while William stepped into the public eye at an event for the London Air Ambulance.
And William looked like a man under pressure.
He posed with Tom Cruise, made a speech with some good jokes and was his usual charming self.
But he looked like a man with the weight of the planet on those broad shoulders.
William has too much on his plate.
His wife is recovering from serious abdominal surgery. His father has been diagnosed with cancer.
He is no longer on speaking terms with his brother.
Nine months after the Coronation, the Prince could be forgiven for thinking he has some good years ahead with his young family before he ascends to the throne himself.
The Queen, his grandmother, lived until she was 96.
Prince Philip, his grandfather, was 99. But cancer changes everything. Cancer is never trivial.
Bridges burned for ever
How fragile our constitutional monarchy seems today.
How unthinkable that Harry, who gives the impression that he hates the family and the country that gave him everything, is within spitting distance of the crown.
Sometimes good things come out of awful situations.
If William and Harry were ever going to reconcile, then it surely has to be NOW, when their father has just been told he has cancer.
But it feels — doesn’t it? — like there has been too much poison.
It feels that the King may forgive his wayward, spoilt, self-pitying younger son — but that William never will.
No matter how badly the country could use the old Harry today.
But too much muck has been chucked from California.
The bridges between William and Harry have been burned for ever.
The bitter truth is that Harry is needed today — by his estranged family, by his country and by his brother.
But that private jet has flown.
In World War One, the British and the Germans famously played football in no-man’s land on Christmas Day.
But they only did it once, in 1914. Because after that, they hated each other too much.
After Oprah Winfrey, Harry’s book and the Netflix doc, after Markle sycophants like Omid Scobie oozing their poison, the only option for the Royal Family is to do what the British do best.
Keep calm, keep smiling, not make a fuss and muddle on.
Or do you fancy opening a few hospitals, Meghan?
Didn’t think so.
Safety pin dress? It’s taking the Pistol, Miley
CHANNELLING the wanton spirit of punk rock, former wild child Miley Cyrus rocked up on the Grammys red carpet wearing a gold dress made of nothing but 14,000 safety pins – more safety pins than anyone has seen since the summer of 1977.
Somewhere Sid Vicious is smiling.
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Beyond belief
HALLELUJAH! Forty of the asylum seekers currently residing on the Bibby Stockholm barge – one in seven – are reported to be in the process of converting to Christianity.
It’s a miracle – praise the Lord!
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And cynicism, even anger, is justified.
Afghan Abdul Ezedi, now believed to be dead, was sought by the police after a woman suffered life-changing injuries when she and her two children were attacked with a corrosive substance in Clapham.
Ezedi – a sex offender who is still here because he converted to Christianity – proves the asylum system is easily gamed.
“As a Christian leader I make no apology for our involvement in supporting people who are often deeply vulnerable and traumatised,” says the Bishop of Chelmsford, Guli Francis-Dehqani.
But someone in the Church of England SHOULD apologise that Ezedi was allowed to stay in the UK after claiming to be a Christian.
I know God may move in mysterious ways, but this is ridiculous.
FORMER Fox News anchor Tucker Carlson’s interview with Vladimir Putin was not even journalism.
It was butt-licking disguised as a world exclusive.
The BBC’s Russia Editor Steve Rosenberg would have asked difficult questions.
But Tucker was as laughably gullible with Mad Vlad as Oprah in Mr and Mrs Markle’s organic chicken run.
AT exactly the moment the Tories should be coming together, warring factions are clawing each other’s eyes out.
It’s a bit like the People’s Front Of Judea rowing with the Judean People’s Front in Life Of Brian.
That petty. That pointless. That stupid.
This week Liz Truss launched her right-wing splinter group called Pop Con.
But how does Truss get to play the right-wing rebel?
I recall Liz, a Lib Dem in her youth, grinning gormlessly as she held her little Remain poster in the EU referendum.
At the same time a rising young star of the Tory Party defied David Cameron and put his career on the line by backing Brexit.
Liz Truss is not a right-wing Tory firebrand. You’re thinking of Rishi Sunak.
THERE is no way Joe Biden will run for president again.
Whatever the old booby may want – and Biden is as narcissistic as Trump – it will not be possible.
Biden’s mind is too far gone. Watching him is excruciating. Tragic.
This week he forgot who Israel is fighting.
He confused Egypt with Mexico.
He increasingly looks angry and lost.
In 2019, Biden promised he would only run for one term as president.
Ironically, he has clearly forgotten.
ARSENAL beat Liverpool last Sunday and joy was unconfined, prompting debate that players and managers should not celebrate every triumph as if they have won a trophy.
The celebrations are wilder than they used to be because of the detested, joy-sucking Video Assistant Referee, VAR.
All its prim, nit-picking, party-killing pauses have drained so much spontaneous elation out of football that these over-the-top celebrations are a way of restoring our national sport’s magic.
Say ref off to Mary
, president of Sinn Fein, says that a referendum on a unified Ireland is inevitable by 2030.
I hope with all my heart that Ireland does not attempt to decide its future with a referendum.
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Because referendums don’t work. Referendums resolve nothing.
Referendums inflame division.
Referendums pour burning petrol on our differences.
The problem with referendums is that they reduce political debate to the level of a penalty shoot-out.
One side wins and the other loses – but the losers do not stop believing in their cause.
Did the Scottish independence referendum of 2014 settle the issue for a generation?
No – that (lost) referendum resulted in ten years of total dominance by the SNP.
Did the EU referendum of 2016 settle our relationship with Europe for ever? Don’t think so.
The UK voted by 52 per cent to 48 per cent to Leave but the result led to years of political paralysis, a thin gruel of benefits and a likely Labour government that still gets misty-eyed about Brussels.
People – like me! – were always bragging that the 17.4million voting to leave the EU were the biggest vote for anything in our history.
But the 16million who voted to stay in the EU was the SECOND-LARGEST vote for anything in our history.
And our differences are never resolved by the penalty shoot-out of a referendum.
Hot air, Sir Kier
IN a stunning act of hypocrisy, Sir Keir Flippity-Flop has ditched his virtue-signalling fib to chuck £28billion a year at green projects.
It always sounded a little ambitious, Keir.
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But faced with the prospect of actually taking power, Labour have dropped their green promises like a hot Just Stop Oil protester.
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What a shocker – Labour have dialled down the green crap.
Surely nothing can stop them now.
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